Jan 4, 2009 10:06 pm US/Central
Supporters Rally For Ill. Senate Appointee Burris
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Roland Burris listens as Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (not pictured) introduces him as his choice to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
The Roland Burris debate heated up Sunday. Supporters demand that he become Illinois junior senator, but top Democrats are digging in their heels.
This week, new senators will be sworn in when the 111th session of Congress starts. Roland Burris says he'll be there to fill the seat left vacant by President-Elect Barack Obama.
But the Senate's top two Democrats still say they could decide not to seat him. Majority leader Harry Reid and Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin both appeared on morning talk shows Sunday to defend their position made of him.
"The governor of Illinois has the state constitutional authority to fill the vacancy, but the United States Senate has the U.S. Constitutional responsibility to decide if Burris was chosen in a proper manner – and that is what we're going to do," Durbin said on "This Week" on ABC.
"Blagojevich is obviously a corrupt individual, I think that's pretty clear," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) on NBC's "Meet the Press." And the reason that he's done what he's done is to divert attention away from the arrest that was just made of him."
Regardless of what the Senate decides to do, a growing number of people are throwing their support behind Burris.
Burris supporters held a prayer vigil Sunday at a South side church.
Burris took the stage at New Covenant Church on Sunday evening to a crescendo of drums, organ music and applause from hundreds of supporters, including black leaders and ministers.
"The appointment is legal," he said, thanking those gathered at the prayer service. "That is all there is. I don't know what all the confusion is about."
Before the service, Burris supporter U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and about 60 ministers condemned Senate Democratic leaders for rejecting Burris.
Rush, a Chicago Democrat, called the U.S. Senate "the last bastion of plantation politics."
"We are just faced with a hard-headed room of people in the Senate who want to keep an African-American out of the Senate," Rush said.
But Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page wrote Sunday that he resents the notion that "the black community (has) become the last refuge for scalawags like Blagojevich" and he thinks he's not alone, based on Secretary of State Jesse White's refusal to certify Burris' appointment. White, like Page, is African-American.
A group of clergymen blessed Burris and his wife just ahead of their trip to the nation's capital. It was an effort to invoke the power of prayer to change the minds of those set against Burris' appointment to the state's vacant U.S. Senate seat.
"Only God has made this possible," Rush said.
Burris took the podium crediting divine intervention for Gov. Rod Blagojevich to have selected him, and vowing to fight for the seat.
"I am not hesitating. I am now the junior senator from the State of Illinois. Some people want to doubt that, question that -- that is their business," Burris said. "I spent 20 years in Illinois government. There is nobody in the state who knows Illinois the way I know it."
Burris says he entered the church Sunday night without anger for those who oppose him and it's that diplomatic attitude that he will take with him when he leaves for Washington Monday.
"Roland Burris isn't coming with any chip on his shoulders. He's not coming bearing any grudges against anybody. But he is coming from the duly appointed power of the governor of this state to represent the great state of Illinois in the United States Senate," Burris said.
But he won't make a scene at the doors of the Senate Tuesday.
"I will not create any theater for you all. I hate to disappoint you. I will go up to the place where they've scheduled me to go and if they turn me around, then we will proceed to leave and then take what action we need to take," Burris said.
The Senate's top two Democrats defended their right to deny the seat to Burris, while refusing to rule out a deal as Congress and its new members begin work this week.
Democrats say Burris' appointment is tainted because it was made by Blagojevich, who is accused by federal authorities of offering to sell the vacancy to the highest bidder. Burris, a former state attorney general, says the appointment is legal and the governor had the authority to do it. He has threatened to sue Senate Democrats if they refuse to swear him in as the chamber's only black member.
"Anything can happen," said Reid. But he described the chances of Burris joining the Senate as "very difficult."
Rush called on Durbin to meet with African-American leaders, calling the Illinois senator "cavalier and one-sided."
Burris said he is scheduled to meet with Durbin on Wednesday and possibly could meet with Reid the same day.
To Reid, "there's clearly legal authority for us to do whatever we want to. This goes back for generations." He declared his concern about "a cloud over anyone that comes from the state of Illinois being appointed by Blagojevich."
Obama has said he agrees with Senate Democrats. But Burris told AP Radio on Sunday that he feels support from Obama.
"He's gotten some advice from other individuals and its not correct advice," Burris said.
While the Burris furor dominated public discussion, Illinois lawmakers quietly continued work that could lead to Blagojevich being removed from office.
Members of the Illinois House impeachment committee reviewed a 54-page draft summary of the allegations against the Democratic governor. Lawmakers said the summary did not include any recommendations on whether Blagojevich should be impeached. That will come after the panel finishes its fact-finding -- perhaps by the middle of this week.
The impeachment committee hopes to learn Monday whether it will be given access to some of the federal government's recordings of Blagojevich. It also wants Burris to testify about his conversations with the governor that led to the Senate appointment.
Burris intended to depart for Washington on Monday.
Reid said he expected to meet with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on Monday evening in hopes "we can solve this issue on a bipartisan basis."
Democratic leaders, however, plan to afford Burris few, if any, privileges even if he were to come to the Capitol with the proper credentials. Senate officials have said a Democrat will object to Burris being duly sworn with the rest of his class Tuesday and will propose that his credentials be reviewed for a period of time by the Senate Rules Committee. That would give Burris the status of a senator-elect and buy some time as Democrats hope Blagojevich will be removed from office before the committee completes its investigation.
Also Sunday, Reid denied a published report he told Blagojevich in early December that he opposed the appointments of Democratic Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Danny Davis to the Senate seat out of fear they would lose the seat to a Republican in the 2010 general election. Reid also allegedly opposed Emil Jones, the powerful black leader of the Illinois Senate, on the same grounds.
"I didn't tell him who not to appoint. He's making all this up to divert attention," Reid said. "Anyone who suggests anything racial is part of the Blagojevich spin to take (attention) away from the corruption." The Chicago Sun-Times reported Saturday that in an early December call to the governor, Reid urged Blagojevich to appoint either Illinois Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Members of the National Coalition of Fairness and Justice held a press conference Sunday evening, calling on supporters of Burris to flood the offices of Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White with phone calls demanding that they support Burris as well.
Some of those at the prayer vigil, held an earlier rally where U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (7th) spoke out on the issue.
"I'm not surprised that some people think that an African-American wouldn't be elected to the Senate – when the Constitution was written Black folks were considered three-fifths of a person," Davis said.
Davis gave a bit of a lesson in African-American history Sunday. He stood with a group of church and community leaders, throwing their support behind the appointment of Burris.
The organization, called 18th Ward Community Action Network (CAN), had several speakers warning lawmakers not to stand in Burris' way when he heads to Capitol Hill, especially Dick Durbin since they supported him in the past.
"Since we endorsed him and passed palm card for him in our community, we are going to hold Dick Durbin accountable," said Joseph Ziegler Jr. of the 18th Ward Community Action Network. "Because if you don't support Roland, then maybe we made a mistake in endorsing you, senator."
"If the Democrats try to keep Roland Burris out of that seat, they're going to see one mad group of Black Republicans, and we're going to get serious about it -- I mean we're going to get medieval on them," said another CAN member.
So far, Democrat leaders have said they would object to Burris being sworn in and that they would propose that the Senate Rules Committee review Burris' credentials – clearly an effort to buy some time.
Sunday night, Davis joked with CBS 2 that he didn't want the Senate seat because he didn't want to spend the next couple of years entertaining reporters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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